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The sun-drenched plains of Tanzania are an ideal spot for wildlife viewing, but no matter how long you’re willing to wait, there are certain animals you’re unlikely to ever spot.

That’s because many of the animals that call Tanzania home are primarily nocturnal, spending the warm days resting, hidden in a shady nook or an underground burrow, and only emerging after dark to hunt and explore.

We didn’t want our guests to miss out on this prime-time for wildlife viewing, so we recently set up night vision camera traps near a few of the nyumba camps. Motion-activated, these cameras offer us a glimpse of the nocturnal wildlife visitors in the area (and might give travelers an idea of what that sound outside REALLY was).

In just the first few days, we spotted a:

Hyena

Though it’s easy to spot hyenas during the day, they’re most active at night. If you listen closely after dark—or really at all—you’ll likely hear their eerie cries in the distance.

Crested Porcupine

During the daytime, crested porcupines keep cool in underground burrows or caves, but overnight, they head out to hunt for bones…(yes, you read that right).

Civet

It’s hard to see in this photo, but one of the civet’s most easily-recognizable characteristics is well-suited to a life of sneaking around at night: its “face mask” markings, similar to a racoon’s!

Genet

We only caught a (back-of-the-)head shot of this little guy, so you can’t see his extra-long tail, used to help the small, mongoose-like genets maintain balance when they jump from tree-limb to tree-limb!

Bushpig

This bushpig is probably out foraging for roots, carrion, or even small mammals. Though we didn’t catch any pictures of them, it’s a good bet that he has several friends nearby; the pigs usually travel in packs.

Honey Badger

These honey badgers don’t care that there’s a camera nearby; they’re too busy digging up snacks (besides honey, they also love insects, small reptiles, and birds). What’s really exciting for us is catching this notoriously grumpy grubber its offspring. The animals are mostly solitary, and don’t even share their burrows (maybe it’s because even THEY can’t stand their tempers!).

It goes without saying that different cultures love different foods; where you’re born is debatably the primary influence on how (and what) you eat.

Some of the following foods may not sound appealing to a western palate, but in Tanzania, they’re favorites. While poaching is still a major concern in Africa, none of the following foods is considered bush meat.

In America, we’ve been taught that pork is “the other white meat,” but in Africa, that title goes to a different animal: the civet. The meat is said to be excellent, and very lightly fruit-flavored, because of the high fruit content in the civet’s diet.

The civet is also valued for a very different reason; glands near its tail produce a strong, musky substance. While it smells decidedly funky on its own, perfumers love it as a rich, earthy addition to scents.

The best known eaters of fruit bats live on Palau, an island situated between the Phillipines and Micronesia, known by many as the setting for the tenth season of Survivor. But they’re just one of many cultures that consider bats—particularly fruit bats—a delicacy. Residents of Guam have long considered fruit bat meat a delicacy, and Tanzanians living on the island of Pemba, just off the coast, also regularly eat bat meat. And though you won’t see bat on western menus today, in 1971 The New York Times Natural Foods Cookbook featured a recipe for fruit bat soup.

Unfortunately, this is one exotic taste with a serious downside: bats share a large portion of their DNA with humans, and bat consumption has been linked to outbreaks of SARS and even Ebola.

-Crocodile

Photo: Thomson Safaris guest, Kristen Boren

It’s a bit of a truism that any strange meat “tastes just like chicken.”

Crocodile’s flavor may be a bit different, but with low fat content and high levels of protein, this meat is often cooked “just like chicken,” in everything from skewers to stir-fries. The tail, however, is highly fatty, and generally isn’t eaten by Tanzanians (though they will occasionally serve it to tourists).

Though the idea of eating crocodile may seem exotic to some, its American cousin, alligator, hasappeared on western menus for years, now, especially in the South.

-Warthog

Photo: Thomson Safaris guest, Peter Rubin

Yes, a warthog may have tusks, and better hair than its porcine cousins, but at the end of the day, if it looks like a pig, it’s probably going to taste like a pig.

It’s also usually eaten like pig: roasts, ribs, legs and chops appear regularly in recipes.

Found only in Lake Tanganyika, kapenta is probably one of the most polarizing dishes on the East African menu, at least as far as flavor.

Small, sardine-like fish, kapenta are traditionally salted and dried in the sun for a day or more, then cooked up with vegetables. They’re also regularly served marinated, a preparation that will taste vaguely familiar to anyone who’s ever tried pickled herring.

As with many sardines and anchovies, kapenta isn’t boned before it’s prepared, meaning this little fish will pack a flavorful punch…and, for some people, an off-putting crunch.

Sometimes people think we have a monopoly on strange behavior, bizarre habits, and quirky character traits, but that’s not true; there’s plenty of wildlife as weird as we are! For example, there’s…

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Nature’s Garbage Disposal: The African Civet

You know that one friend who cleans every last speck off his plate…then moves on to everyone else’s? That’s the civet, an animal that looks like a cross between a cat and a weasel, and eats like he’s crossing a food court, and stopping at every station. Civets eat snails, crabs, turtles and frogs; fish, chickens, birds and small reptiles; maggots, dung beetles, cockroaches, termites, and carrion. Then, to make sure they stay balanced, they might top all that off with some leaves, shoots, sweet potatoes, peanuts, corn, and a nice fruit-plate.

Medieval beliefs about animals are fascinating, in no small part because most of the people writing about the strange and fantastic creatures of the world had never seen them. Or anything like them. Also they believed in magic.

That probably explains the brisk trade in oryx horns in medieval England, where they were sold as unicorn horns. The unicorn was viewed as a symbol of purity and grace, and its characteristic spiral horn was thought to have magical properties, cure disease, and detect poisons.

Fortunately for the salesmen, on an oryx you have double the horns to sell.

Vervets have developed a seriously entrenched social structure based on who your parents (more specifically your mother) was. They’re like the royal family, except slightly less tolerant of incursions by “commoners.”

In vervet society, the rank of a female is determined entirely by the rank her mother holds. This hierarchy is so strictly adhered to that the baby of a high-ranking female gets preference over adults of an inferior status.

Male monkeys leave the clan to make their own way, and their status is based on strength, age, how long they’ve lived with the group, and alliances they’ve formed.

The ladies, though, are born princesses…or peasants.

Photo by Thomson Safaris staffer, Bryan Rotundo

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Nature’s Fashion Model: The Bushbuck

With their willowy legs, natural grace, and of course those massive doe-eyes, it’s only natural that antelope are runway-ready.

But the bushbuck takes it a step (or catwalk) further.

Rather than fighting for mates, male bushbuck prance for them, displaying their unique markings with a special arch-backed, high-stepping walk.

Bushbuck are also capable of living (briefly) off of dew. Now if only they could brew it into coffee and enjoy it with a cigarette, they’d really give the human models a catwalk for their money.

Genets are omnivores, eating everything from small mammals to eggs to insects to fruit, but with food they hunt, they are known to be “wasteful” killers; often they’ll eat only the head or breast of an animal.

Of course in the bush, leftovers are readily taken care of. And if you live near a genet, there will be plenty of them to go around…

Photo: Thomson Safaris guest, Jon Goulden

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Nature’s Expiration Date: The Waterbuck

Sometimes, you’re not sure whether or not you should eat the casserole hidden at the back of your fridge.

And sometimes you can just TELL it has gone off.

Putrefaction is one of the waterbuck’s best defenses from predators; as an animal grows older, secretions from its sweat glands build up, giving the meat a distinct “past its prime” smell that turns predators away.

Of course it probably turns just about everyone else away, too, but that’s a small price to pay for staying off the menu.

Thomson Safaris

Founded in 1981 and based in Watertown Massachusetts, Thomson Safaris has been handcrafting trips-of-a-lifetime for over 30 years. Tanzania is our only destination, and has truly become our second home. We’re excited to be able to share it with you through stories and features on our blog.